Lauren Lantry, lauren.lantry@sierraclub.org
Using documents produced by a Sierra Club FOIA, E&E reported today that Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler worried about the optics of a meeting with Peabody Energy Corp. The coal company had invited Wheeler to speak at a Washington Coal Club luncheon. In 2018, Peabody spent $1,650,000 lobbying for policies that would make coal more profitable to produce including rolling back pollution protections.
As Acting Administrator, Wheeler has pushed pro-coal, anti-public health policies like:
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Rolled back the Clean Power Plan, which would have reduced air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from coal-fired power plants. Wheeler’s proposed replacement could lead to upward of 1,400 additional premature deaths and 48,000 new cases of asthma each year
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Gutted protections from mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants
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Weakened protections from dangerous coal ash
In response Sierra Club Legal Director Pat Gallagher said, "Wheeler learned from Pruitt's PR mistakes, but he's still following his playbook, rolling back vital clean air and water safeguards to the detriment of American families and for the benefit of the fossil fuel companies whose optics are too bad for a meeting."
About the Sierra Club
The Sierra Club is America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 3 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.